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...I want something that can really boss around Tarmos and I'm personally leery of TNN. I'd rather play Lingering Souls in my meta, but I also really want Dread of Night in my sideboard. Beating DnT handily is the reason I play this deck (when I play this deck).

Although the deck performed well, the idea of running so many 2 drops might not ultimately be that great. It often happens that 3 or 4 mana becomes available, and to waste those resources is also inefficient. It's not really possible to run out just a small number of lands like a Delver deck due to equipment and color requirements.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Gurmag Angler and Snapcaster Mage hate each other.
I like your changes and think that will make it better.
Jace is more like Brainstorm. Many times you will see that he wins games. He works good with the discard. Forcing your opponent into top deck situations and you control it with Jace. I am excited how your plan will work. I played Hymn as well but didn't like it much at the end. I am still a fan of Liliana of the Veil especially with the discard plan. Also jace and liliana are good friends and allow us to have pure control.

Divert is a great card especially against shardless bug.
Garruk Relentless is a great Planeswalker. Deathtouch tokens are great. he can kill opponents deathrite shaman or cycles creatures like stoneforge mystic after I got my equipment into play. His ultimate wins also games.

I don't play Baleful Strix anymore. Neither in the Sideboard nor Mainboard. There is literally no Eldrazi anymore and even if I hit this 1 Eldrazi player, I can win with my removal.
The 2 Dread of Night are just for Death and Taxes. The last times where between 10 Players 3 who played dnt. Priest hits more decks. Vial, Show and Tell, Elves (GSZ in General). I'm thinking about to cut one Containment Priest for a Grafdigger's Cage. The Cage can hit Miracles as well becaus he shuts down Snapcaster Mage making the Deck less redundant.
I have two upcoming events which are also Trials for Prague. One this Sunday and next week.
We will see how things are developing.
I hope this Thread comes more active in the next few weeks :)

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Long time lurker here and yeah it would be great to see more of this deck i know bant is doing really well right now but Deathblade holds a special place in my heart and blade decks have been my dream deck since i started playing which was during Caw-Blade standard.

Maybe we can get some good discussion going here, first off i wanted to see what you guys thought about Gurmag vs Tombstalker, right now i'm running Gurmag but it seems like i really wouldn't mind especially in the later turns when gurmag is coming down to be dropping a stalker instead, just cause the flying is so huge to have in this deck with the equipments, also it has felt like recently 3 SFM has been perfect, with 4 i felt like i was drawing them way to much and once you've fetched your 2 equips up she is soooo dead.

Also Toxic Deluge vs Explosives is another dilemma i am facing, they are both so good for the deck but i feel like when i run 1 over the other i end up really missing the utility they both offer, maybe it is correct to run both? Like EE can avoid counterbalance and it's colorless which is really nice, and i really like being able to hit whatever with it especially with access to 4 colors, but it's honestly a much worse creature hoser vs DnT and Elves i end up missing deluge MB.

And last but not least thoughts on Spell Pierce, it is a nice card but the deck seems like it really wants to be deploying threats heavily rather than trying to answer all of them, what do you guys think?

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

The flying makes the difference between Tombstalker and Angler. Most of the times it doesn't matter if I pay 1 or 2 mana.
Some players say 4 sfm others 3. I play 3 for the reason that the mystic can Cheat batterskull into play. The only bonus with Jitte is that's uncounterable and instant speed but costs also 2 mana. But I thinking about 4 since I play a third equipment in the sideboard and have 3 after boarding which works better with the full set of mystic.
The one off spell pierce seems bad but many times I need just a cheap counter on turn 2 to protect something. Sometimes I need it in the late game when my opponent taps out for an entreat or green suns Zenith. It's way more flexible as you think. And you can bring it back with Snapcaster Mage easily.
I love explosives. And it's so good in many match ups that I want to play it Mainboard. I have most of the times a suprise factor.

First of all, I apologize for not including the links to the cards. I could not seem to find the instructions on how to do so.

Now to discuss the list. I've had sustained, steady and predictable success with this list. Sideboarding is obvious, and very few decks have an obvious edge, especially in post board games.

I have been seeing many list going without True-Name. This is a grave mistake versus several decks, including death and taxes, lands, miracles, delver and shardless. Of course each of these decks has their answer, but True-Name is an important step to controlling the game.

Next, I see that that dominant tech is to run 4 Stoneforge Mystic and 2 equipment, batterskull and jitte. To me, this is the worst kind of hedging. If you were convinced that two equipment was best, then 3 stoneforge mystic would be the number to go with. However, I am convinced that sword of fire and ice is the best equipment of the bunch and it really isn't all that close. Against combo, miracles and lands, Sword of fire and ice is the clear choice.

My list really emphasizes the card advantage angles of the deck. Sword of fire and ice, jace the Mind sculptor, snapcaster, and last, but not least, Lingering souls.
Lingering Souls is one of those "easy to know when to side out" cards, but is righteous when you are in a good matchup. Against miracles and shardless, it pulls you ahead (against miracles) and closer to even (against shardless).

I run 3 basics, one of each. My meta includes 2 of the most experienced lands players there are, the most experienced Blood moon player I know of, and several delver and midrange players packing full sets of wastelands. Perhaps, in a large tournament meta, I could be convinced to run just one basic, probably the swamp.

Finally, I stole the mana leak idea from a friend at the local store, who also posts on here. Mana leak, and diabolic edict, both dodge the poor mana that this deck often deals with the start the game AND are unexpected based on your mana available (for example, a Scrubland and a Tundra might make your opponent think the coast is clear because they might think you are on Counterspell ).

The sideboard:
I think in esper, it is important to run creatures in the board, and as many as possible. Also, running as many flash creatures as sensible works really well. Flash creatures, such as Snapcaster Mage being used as ambush viper, routinely wins miracles matchups. Therefore, I run 2 Meddling Mage, 1 Containment Priest, 1 Sanctum prelate, and 1 Gaddock teeg. Gaddock Teeg isn't ideal, I'll admit, but the matchups you want it the most, it's amazing and you probably won't be punished for fetching the trop aggressively. Sanctum prelate has worked really well when paired with Meddling Mage to completely shut down a deck. For example, cast Meddling Mage versus shardless and name decay. Next turn cast sanctum prelate and name the number 3. Unless shardless is running Disfigure or casts a Jace, the game looks solidly in your favor. My meta has a strong graveyard reliance. I run two Surgical extractions and one rest in peace. I'd cut the rest in peace in a more standard meta as it hurts our deathrites and snapcasters.

Thoughts? I truly think this is the direction we want to go towards.

I will make one note. I will soon be trying a list cutting the main deck Lingering Souls, the mana leak and the Diabolic Edict for a 3rd Underground Sea and a Dimir charm. I'm not thrilled with the idea but I think my list needs to up the land count and Lingering Souls is the most polarized card in that it's awful or amazing based on the matchup.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Welcome !
You can link cards like: cards name /cards
cards and /cards have to be in brackets [ ]

Your list is very interesting. Diabolic Edit can be strong. Mana leak is okay. Counterspell would be stronger of course. I played also Lingering souls but switched to Bitterblossom. You have a reason to play 4 mystics. I am thinking about it because I play a 3rd equipment in my sideboard. you are playing pure esper without green spells. I tried it also but abrupt decay is too strong.
I like vindicate. a simple destroy any permanent. But True-Name nemesis is a thing and sometimes they can use abilities of the target permanent. Council's Judgment is also a catch all removal but a bit harder to cast with double white.
I am playing also a swamp and an island but instead of plains I want Karakas. It helps you in many match ups and Lands or aggro loam have to find a wasteland for it.
Baleful Strix is also a good card and trades always 2 for 1. either with a creature or with removal which means less removal for stoneforge mystic.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

Welcome !
You can link cards like: cards name /cards
cards and /cards have to be in brackets [ ]

Your list is very interesting. Diabolic Edit can be strong. Mana leak is okay. Counterspell would be stronger of course. I played also Lingering souls but switched to Bitterblossom. You have a reason to play 4 mystics. I am thinking about it because I play a 3rd equipment in my sideboard. you are playing pure esper without green spells. I tried it also but abrupt decay is too strong.
I like vindicate. a simple destroy any permanent. But True-Name nemesis is a thing and sometimes they can use abilities of the target permanent. Council's Judgment is also a catch all removal but a bit harder to cast with double white.
I am playing also a swamp and an island but instead of plains I want Karakas. It helps you in many match ups and Lands or aggro loam have to find a wasteland for it.
Baleful Strix is also a good card and trades always 2 for 1. either with a creature or with removal which means less removal for stoneforge mystic.

Actually, the cards that you list is how I envision Deathblade in a greedy-manabase-friendly meta.

In that world, I would run 2 Abrupt Decay in the main and 1 in the side. Council's judgement I would only run if there were a lot of true-names running around. Personally, I like Lingering Souls over Bitterblossom for two reasons: 1, there is no loss of life, and the loss of life isn't irrelevant. 2, Lingering souls is better CA. If you run LOTV, souls pairs nicely. However, against shardless and it's endless hymns, souls can really keep you in the game.

Here is my "greedy mana base" Deathblade list I wrote up and never played some time ago.

Also, let me defend Mana Leak for a moment. Deathblade suffers a few downsides. 1, it isn't so powerful that it can easily shut down any deck, you really need to win the first 4 or 5 turns and be very tight in your play. And 2, it's mana base. I strongly believe that running at least 2 basics, if not 3 is correct. I have more examples than I can count of winning because of basics (including the plains) and many examples of losing off of mana screw.

Karakas I don't think is necessary. Versus lands, they are happy to wait a turn and Wasteland you. Untapped Plains is much more difficult for them to deal with. Especially if you have a Fetchland reserved as backup to battle them porting you down. Versus Show and Tell, you could certainly use it, but that matchup should DEFINITELY be in our favor, especially post board. Always fetch for sword of fire and ice to load up your hand with interaction.

One side note:
What are your thoughts on how to improve the shardless matchup? I am partial to the idea of Misdirection and Notion Thief. Notion Thief has more blanket utility and it's a flash creature which is extremely useful to close out a game by surprise. Misdirection has single handedly won me a game vs shardless but I don't like it versus any other matchup.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Shardless bug is an awful match up. we have to play every form of card advantage we have. I play Divert in my Sideboard which is great and main Leovold,Emissary of Trest. He is also great with their discard and removal. lingering souls is the better choice in this match up. the problem is that force of will is not great against them. they want to trade 2 for 1 and force does the exact same thing. Cards which produce tokens are good because we can get Advantage over the board. Right now there is nearly not a single shardless in my meta.
you are right. with green you become more and more greedy and blood moon destroys you. I guess it's a players choice and preference because both can work. I like to play karakas but this depends on the meta. I can say for sure that I will play next tournament against sneak show or reanimator. Also I like the fact that I can bounce my own vendilion clique and leovold.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

Shardless bug is an awful match up. we have to play every form of card advantage we have. I play Divert in my Sideboard which is great and main Leovold,Emissary of Trest. He is also great with their discard and removal. lingering souls is the better choice in this match up. the problem is that force of will is not great against them. they want to trade 2 for 1 and force does the exact same thing. Cards which produce tokens are good because we can get Advantage over the board. Right now there is nearly not a single shardless in my meta.
you are right. with green you become more and more greedy and blood moon destroys you. I guess it's a players choice and preference because both can work. I like to play karakas but this depends on the meta. I can say for sure that I will play next tournament against sneak show or reanimator. Also I like the fact that I can bounce my own vendilion clique and leovold.

In "greedy" deathblade, I love the idea of Leovold. And, in that line of thought, if you are running Clique and Teeg, it really helps to have a Karakas versus Miracles.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Versus Shardless,
I board out all of my countermagic. I bring in rest in peace because it hurts them more and it strains their Abrupt decays (think of how miracles employs this sort of game plan ). I bring in as many addition creatures as I can so that I can fight through the removal and stick an equipment on a creature. Batterskull is obviously the best equipment. Creeping Tar Pit is super useful if you can avoid wasteland.
Pithing needle on Liliana of the Veil is also a great line.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by ClimbGneiss

...

Finally, I stole the mana leak idea from a friend at the local store, who also posts on here.

...

You're welcome

Originally Posted by Neo900

Hey everybody !
I hope this thread will become more active again :(
I'm still playing Deathblade (never stopped) and the past 4 weeks I took 3 top8s. 2 on bigger weekend events and 1 on the weekly at my lgs.

...

I hope this Thread comes more active in the next few weeks :)

I'm still lurking, but haven't played Deathblade at all recently. The last few events I played it in went awfully. The deck is just very poorly positioned against both Shardless and Miracles. That might be ok if I was beating all the other decks, but I wasn't as the deck is really no more than 50% in any matchup. I won't pretend I play the deck optimally, but I need to cool it off for a while. I'm not sure what kind of shift or new printing can make this deck competitive again barring Miracles getting hit by a banning.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Seraphix

You're welcome

I'm still lurking, but haven't played Deathblade at all recently. The last few events I played it in went awfully. The deck is just very poorly positioned against both Shardless and Miracles. That might be ok if I was beating all the other decks, but I wasn't as the deck is really no more than 50% in any matchup. I won't pretend I play the deck optimally, but I need to cool it off for a while. I'm not sure what kind of shift or new printing can make this deck competitive again barring Miracles getting hit by a banning.

I can't claim to have a great record versus Shardless; however, Seraphix can attest that I have been regularly taking down or placing in the top 4 of our weekly events. And, we have several extremely skilled players in our meta. I feel very comfortable against miracles.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

I like the idea of Atraxa, Praetor's Voice in greedy Deathblade. Feels like it would be good in the shardless matchup. Strap a sofai to it and the only answer would be Lilly or Deluge (with Deluge being an acceptable result)

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

atraxa seems good. but I guess a hymn will hit her before you can cast her. also maelstrom pulse hits her. jitte and profilate let you get every turn 3 counter.
I made some test games against a friend and as long as I had leovold on turn 2 he wasn't able to win

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Neo900

atraxa seems good. but I guess a hymn will hit her before you can cast her. also maelstrom pulse hits her. jitte and profilate let you get every turn 3 counter.
I made some test games against a friend and as long as I had leovold on turn 2 he wasn't able to win

I think that expensive, powerful spells are a trap for us in the Shardless matchup. Efficient threats that generate CA like Bitterblossom, Dark Confidant, Lingering Souls, or Leovold are actually the best place to be.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Originally Posted by Seraphix

I think that expensive, powerful spells are a trap for us in the Shardless matchup. Efficient threats that generate CA like Bitterblossom, Dark Confidant, Lingering Souls, or Leovold are actually the best place to be.

I wish our local meta was conducive to running non basics so I could run Leovold and Abrupt Decay without fear. Oh well, I will just have to console myself to running basics Plains and casting Stoneforge versus Blood moon.

Re: [Deck] Deathblade

Recently went to a smaller legacy tournament and had really good results with the deck went 3-0-1 and got first with 10 points here is how the matchups went.

Round 1

I would do a more detailed write up of these games but the deck i was facing was a very janky homebrew deck and had no real chance of winning, it was some white deck with Shadow on all of it's creatures and jitte, i guess the idea was to get counters while being unblockable but it just went no where with how much removal i am packing and how much he literally can't do anything to stop True-Name Nemesis, needless to say it was an easy 2-0.

Round 2

I was against Grixis Delver which is a very even matchup, round 1 i was able to grind him out and secure the win with a resolved True-Name, game 2 i side in extra removal and counter spells, he wins this matchup after i mistakenly try to play around what i believe to be a daze in his had trying to resolve a TNN, but it wasn't and he ended up land locking me with a hand full of action, game 3 was a short game and ended up going to turn 5 on time the turn i was going to swing in with a lethal Tombstalker and TNN suited up with jitte, which was very unfortunate but it shows that had i had a little more time on this round i would have 4-0'd

Round 3

Guy mulligans to 4 first game and then 5 the next game playing loam, both games ended rather quickly as i was putting to much pressure on for him to get any of his engines going.

Round 4

Guy was on mono red Goryo/Sneak Attack deck with pyroblasts and seething songs, the deck actually was 3-0 at that point and actually seemed fairly decent, game 1 i mulled to 5 and he ended up resolving a Griselbrand, time for game 2 i sided in a Chill, Humility, Spell Pierce, Containment Priest and something else, i dropped all of my removal since i was dead anyway if he got anything on the board, i was able to counterspell all of his relevant stuff until i resolved a JTMS, i used +2 every turn to try to keep him off threats while i rebuilt my hand, the strat ended up working really well and i eventually ulted for the win.

Here is the Decklist i used for the tournament, this isn't exactly where i want the deck to be but i didn't have all the cards i wanted to put in it so i settled for a few extra copies of cards.

I really want to try 3 Stifle MB and another Spell Pierce, also need a Liliana in the deck instead of 1 of the JTMS, this meta is incredibly fast right now and if we can make Deathblade just a tiny bit faster i think the deck can really shine.